Featured – selection of key articles

7 Reasons Einstein would support 20 mph +

ACTION: Please take a moment to respond to the Bristol 20mph Review Our lives fundamentally rely on energy. It puts food on our table, gets us to and from work, powers our offices and factories. The more we use, the more money it costs us. Our demand for it causes wars, our generation of it emits harmful gases. Almost every issue 20mph raises is energy related and the answer to each, along with many of…Read More

Induced Traffic and Traffic Evaporation +

The recent debate on the proposed Callington "Relief" Road has brought the concept of "induced traffic" back into the limelight. And also the the related and much neglected evidence for "reduced traffic", or the delightful concept of "traffic evaporation". So what do these terms mean? Induced Traffic As car ownership and use have increased over the past 30 years the reaction to the pressure created by additional traffic demand has often been to increase the…Read More

A Modest Proposal #5: The Bear Pit / St James Barton Roundabout +

St James Barton roundabout remains among the worst in Bristol for cyclists. This is despite the sterling work of The Bearpit Improvement Group and the recently completed £1million scheme to provde a route around the inner edge of the roundabout at street level for pedestrians and cyclists. We hope this already outdated scheme will be the last time huge budgets will be spent forcing cycles to share busy spaces with pedestrians (see BCyC Policy on…Read More

A Modest Proposal #2: Bristol Promenades Routes +

We've been given agreement to share with you some plans that we have been helping with for Promenade Routes in Bristol. These are a set of proposals by John Grimshaw to enhance all of Bristol’s waterside quays, towpaths and walkways to create popular promenades to further promote walking and cycling in the area. Bristol’s riversides and docks have long been a popular place to cycle because they are attractive, central and flat. This project aims…Read More

Cycling vs the Electric Car +

Electric vehicles have received a lot of press over the past few months. This furore has even led some to suggest that EVs are more efficient than food powered humans riding bicycles. So we at Bristol Cycling have put together an unapologetically technical article in an attempt to shed some light on this. Why does energy matter? For starters, energy, whether it is petrol, electricity or food costs money. We are also burning our way…Read More

Who pays for our roads? +

There is still an assumption that those using cycles don’t pay their way on our roads. This is despite significant progress being made in recent years highlighting the misconceptions of vehicle excise duty, often mistakenly referred to as “Road tax” (ipayroadtax.com). Remembering that 80% of cyclists are also drivers, we think it is a good time to highlight the shared costs we all pay for these stretches of tarmac that dominate our urban environment. The…Read More